A/N: Greetings, my good readers! I hope life finds you well.

Forgot to say this last time, but thank you for the follows/faves/reviews! Wasn't expecting much, so it's a pleasant surprise that people are actually reading this. Warms my heart, that it does ^^

Want to put a quick disclaimer out there: I'm not an athlete. I know nothing about school sports. None of it will be an accurate depiction of what actually happens. But if anyone does know, feel free to correct me when I make mistakes haha. That applies to pretty much everything I write. This isn't going through a beta (anxietyyyy) so I'm bound to mess things up quite a bit.

I own nothing written here (though I did write it).


I'd never actually been to a soccer match before. I'd been to a lot of sports matches, but never soccer. That was more Juvia's thing. But this time, I was coming with her. The results of this game against Sabertooth High would determine whether our team got into regionals, and Juvia was nervous enough to request my presence as moral support.

I was her first friend after moving here from the Phillipines, and we often went to support each other in our respective sports, so even though we didn't hang out much anymore, we still had that connection. No matter what, I considered her a close friend.

"Juvia is so nervous," she said, clutching my arm as we went through the gate to the school fields. There was already a small crowd on the bleachers, and we took our spot at the very top.

I asked if she didn't want to sit near the bottom to be closer, but she blushed and shook her head violently.

"Juvia is way too shy to see Gray up close. Juvia always watches from the top. Juvia can see the whole field from up here."

She was right. The view was great. Though it was hard to see the players' faces, at least their numbers were easy to read. Also their hair color. It seemed Natsu Dragneel was also on varsity.

Just as I spotted him, Natsu also managed to notice us all the way in the back of the bleachers. He jumped and waved, both arms over his head. "Lucy!"

I awkwardly waved back as several other spectators snickered.

He made gestures for me to come down, so I stood up. "I'll be right back," I told Juvia, and made my way down to the field.

"What is it?" I said.

"Why are you all the way in the back? It's hard to see from up there. There's plenty of space closer," he said.

"Juvia wants to sit there," I said.

He squinted up at her. "She's the girl who comes to all our games, right? What's her name again?"

"Juvia. Juvia Lockser."

"Okay. Tell her thanks for always coming. She's kind of an unofficial team mascot, even though none of us have talked to her. We like seeing her up in the stands. Makes us feel like we have fans."

I smiled. "I'll let her know. Good luck in your game today."

Natsu smiled, his usual broad grin from ear to ear. "Thanks!"

I glanced back at Juvia before adding, "And extra good luck to Gray, okay?"

Natsu scowled. "Why him?"

"Secret."

"Tell him yourself. Don't make me do it."

"You fight with him a lot, don't you?"

"And win," he boasted.

"But still, just do it. Don't say it's from me or anything, just wish him luck personally. Please?" I wasn't going to tell him I was doing this on Juvia's behalf; though her huge crush on Gray was obvious to pretty much anyone, I wasn't about to tell Natsu outright. If he didn't know, I wasn't going to be the one to tell him.

"Fine," he grumbled. "No special good luck for me?"

"You're the only one I told 'good luck' in person, right?"

"I'm just a messenger."

"And a direct recipient."

He grinned. "Okay."

Easy to please.

"Enjoy the game!" he said with a wave, sprinting back to the rest of the team, loudly passing along my encouragements.

I made my way back up to Juvia. "I had him tell Gray good luck for you," I said.

Juvia's cheeks flushed pink. "Lucy did not!"

"I didn't say it was from you, don't worry."

She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good. Juvia's heart couldn't take it if Gray knew about her crush."

"What kind of a friend do you think I am?" I teased.

"Juvia is just nervous," she said.

"They have our encouragement. All we can do is cheer and watch."

"Juvia does not cheer."

"Well I do," I said, grinning.

She laughed.

"Want me to embarrass you?" I said, jumping up.

"Please do not," she said. She continued giggling as I sat down. "Maybe if they need it."

"Just say the word and I'll cheer my socks off."

"Lucy should cheer her socks on. That would be more impressive."

"I like how you think," I said.


The game started. Though Juvia was obviously watching Gray's every move, I found my eyes following that mop of pink hair around the field. I could tell he and Gray were both midfielders, but beyond the basic positions, I didn't know much about soccer. So I just watched and took it all in.

There were two guys on the other team who seemed to be giving them a hard time. And when I asked Juvia about the curses she was muttering under her breath, she pointed them out.

"They are Sting and Rogue," she said. "Sabertooth is Fairy Tail's rival, and they always go against Gray. They like to taunt him, too. It is very rude."

"Don't worry," I said, "I know very well that Sabertooth is our school's rival. The girls on their cheer team are ruthless." Their captain, Minerva, was a force to be reckoned with. She was a tall, beautiful latina with a personality as harsh as her gymnastics were incredible. And her gymnastics were really incredible. I promised myself that we'd beat Sabertooth this year, but it would be no easy task.

Back with the soccer game, the ball advanced toward the enemy goal. I jumped up and shouted, "Yeah! Go go go! Get 'em!"

Juvia joined me in standing up, fists clenched in concentration. We watched as the ball passed between players. Gray passed to Natsu. Natsu paused for only a moment before kicking the ball to a forward, who took a shot at the goal. I held my breath as the goalie reached to defend, but the ball bounced off his fingers and into the net.

Goal!

"Yes!" I shouted, jumping up and down. I let out a loud cheer, joining the applause and cheering coming from the home bleachers. I turned to Juvia. "Gray is really good," I said.

"Natsu was the one with the assist," she replied, but she was blushing happily.

"Then Gray was the one with the assist-assist. Still, they got a goal!"

"There's a lot of time left in the game," Juvia said.

There was still a lot of time, but in that time, the opponent only made one more goal, while our team made two. The final score was 3-1. Fairy Tail High was going to varsity soccer regionals. A feeling of victory welled up in my chest. Who knew watching someone else's sport could be so exciting? I didn't have many chances to be a simple spectator, but at this moment, my school spirit was higher than ever.

The bleachers started to clear out after the excitement ended and the teams had gone back to the locker room. I stood up and stretched.

"That was a fun game. I'll have to come watch soccer again sometime. Thanks for inviting me, Juvia."

"Thanks to Lucy for coming," she said.

"Now I have to go home and write that essay. Augh, I don't want to!"

"Lucy is good at essays."

"Sometimes. But that doesn't make them any less awful."

"Really, thanks for coming," she said. "Juvia would have been so nervous without Lucy with her."

I smiled and linked arms with her as we left the field.

"Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!"

I turned around at the sound of Natsu's voice. He was running toward us from the school, soccer uniform still on. And dang, did it do him good. Unimpeded by any fence, the view of the cloth hanging loosely around his body was quite excellent. I decided I officially loved soccer players.

"Natsu? What are you doing out here?"

"Come," he said simply, gesturing for both of us to follow him.

"Me? Why?"

"Lucy's friend come too," he said.

I looked at Juvia, who appeared just as confused as I was. But Natsu was already heading back toward the school, gesturing wildly, so we decided to follow him and see what's up.

He brought us to the school gym, where several members of the soccer team were standing around the entrance to the boys' locker room. Oh dear. Hot boys everywhere.

"I brought her!" he said.

Suddenly the team members were surrounding us — Juvia in particular — saying things like "nice to meet you" and "thanks for coming" and "wow so this is what you look like up close."

"Juvia, right?" Gray said, approaching us with a cool demeanor.

Juvia blinked and blushed.

He smirked. "What these idiots are trying to say is, thanks for always coming to our games. We always see you up there, and you're kind of a good luck charm to a lot of the guys here. So, thanks."

I'd seen Juvia nervous plenty of times before, but this was on a whole new level. The words all came flowing out at once. "Thank you, Mr. Gray Sir!" Then she ducked her head, turning the color of a tomato all the way to her ears and down her neck.

I cringed inwardly. She always added extra honorifics when she was flustered. Another verbal quirk she never deigned to explain to me.

But thankfully, Gray just laughed lightly. "You're supposed to say 'you're welcome.'"

"You're welcome, Mr. Gray Sir," she mumbled, embarrassed.

"You two can go back now. The guys just wanted to say thanks."

Juvia bolted.

"Ah, wait!" I ran after her, waving a quick goodbye to the stunned soccer team. Hopefully they didn't take it personally. If they did, that was their own problem.

I found her a little ways away from the school, hand clutching at her chest.

"You okay?" I said, walking toward her slowly.

"Juvia talked to Mr. Gray," she said.

"Yeah. I'm really proud of you. You did well."

"Juvia made a fool of herself."

"No you didn't."

"Juvia can't go to games anymore. Juvia is too embarrassed."

"They like you, Juvia."

"What if they talk to Juvia again?"

"If you don't want them talking to you, I can tell Natsu to pass it on to the team."

"But Juvia wants to talk to Mr. Gray again," she said quietly, almost at a whisper.

I smiled. "I'm sure you will. Just take it one step at a time." I had a strong feeling that Juvia's one-sided love life was slowly but surely going to change.


A lot of things were changing because of Natsu Dragneel.

For one, my circle of friends was starting to grow. Thanks to Natsu, Gray and I said hello when we passed in the halls, and Juvia said that the whole soccer team — Gray included — did the same to her.

I also met a few underclassmen who were sitting with Natsu at lunch when I stopped over to say hi. One had long, dark hair pulled into long pigtails, and the other had a short cornsilk bob. Both were cute and petite, the dark-haired one especially so. I wanted to squish her cheeks.

"How's the form coming along? It's been two weeks." Hard to believe, but yes, it had only been that long since we first met. So much had happened with him in that short time. At least, it sure felt like a lot.

Natsu made a face at my question. "I think they just want to buy the soccer balls ourselves. Forms are too much work."

I wasn't sure if I should be shocked or unsurprised. "So lazy."

Natsu shrugged. "Oh, hey, meet our class prez," he said to two girls he was sitting with. "This is Lucy Heartfilia. She does everything. She's awesome."

I smiled at the compliments. "Nice to meet you," I said.

"This is Wendy, my sister, and Lisanna, my first friend from when I moved here."

"Nice to meet you two." I turned to Natsu. "Do you usually sit here? I don't remember you being in my lunch."

"Nah," Natsu said.

"He's usually with Gray and Jellal and Loke and the rest," Lisanna said. "He can't be bothered to sit with us younger people anymore, can he?" She nudged him.

"Don't you hate Gray?" I said, thinking back to his interactions with his teammates. "And Loke?"

Natsu scowled. "They're the worst. I'll beat 'em to a pulp."

"No more fighting, Natsu," Wendy warned.

"He says he hates all of them, but he hangs out with them anyway," Lisanna said. "They're his best friends. He just refuses to admit it."

"They're all idiots, the lot of them," Natsu growled.

"And what makes you so different?" I said, giggling.

Natsu pouted as Wendy and Lisanna laughed out loud.

"I like you," Lisanna said. "Let's be friends."

"Natsu said the same exact thing when I was mean to Loke," I said. "You two talk alike. You must be really close."

Lisanna glanced at Natsu. "I may have picked up a few things," she said. "He's really loud, so it's hard not to."

"Hey!" Natsu said. "I didn't introduce you so you could make fun of me! It's because Lucy is cool, not because I wanted you two to form an anti-Natsu alliance."

"Oo, an anti-Natsu alliance, sounds fun," Lisanna said, grinning. "Wanna join, Lucy?"

"I'll pass," I said with a laugh. "I already have enough extracurriculars." I glanced at Natsu. "And I'm not sure we're close enough yet for that to not be weird."

Natsu tilted his head. "Hmm. Then let's fix that. Come over."

"Over where?"

"My house! It'll be fun!"

Well this was a sudden request. "Um, I'm always busy after school," I said.

"Then maybe after dinner? If you're busy it can be a study session. I need to get my grades up anyway, or Gramps'll be mad at me."

"Are your grades not good?"

"They're horrible," Wendy cut in.

"Okay, we can study. What math are you in?"

"Trig."

"I'm in pre-calc, but I guess since I had trig last year, I could be of some use."

"Don't have to if you don't want to," Natsu said brightly. "I'm not asking for a tutor, just an excuse to hang out. Then we won't have to be strangers anymore!"

"Once Natsu decides to be friends with someone, he goes all-out," Lisanna said. "Best be clear with him now, or he'll get attached."

"I don't mind," I said, smiling. "Today's fairly free, no practice, so maybe I can come over around 4? Ah, but I don't know how to get there."

"It's okay! It's just a 5-minute walk from here."

"Oh. Then I'll just come by when I'm done my stuff. Can you tell me the address?"

"Wait. First give me your phone number, and I'll text it to you."

"Good idea," I said.

He pulled out his phone and I entered myself as a contact.

"I'll text you," he said.

"Okay. I should get back to eating before lunch is over. See you later!"

"Yup!"

The three of them waved me off as I returned to my usual table.

"What was that about?" Levy asked as I sat down. Besides the two of us, everyone else seemed to have a different lunch: Erza, Juvia, even Levy's good friends Jet and Droy. So we sat together, just the two of us.

"I'm gonna go to Natsu's place to study later," I said.

Levy raised her eyebrows. "Study, huh?"

I could feel my face turning red. "Yes, study. He's decided we're friends, and studying is an excuse to hang out. The other girls there are his sister and a friend. They're underclassmen. He introduced me to them, too. They seem nice."

"Well, have fun," Levy said. She shrugged.

"Thanks. I hope I will. Apparently after this, we're going to be friends."

"Aren't you already friends?"

"Yeah, but I mentioned that we're not close enough for me to join an anti-Natsu alliance with his friend Lisanna. Apparently this will make us close enough."

Levy let out a loud laugh. "And that made him invite you over? So you can join an alliance against him?"

"He's not the most logical person."

"So I see. You sure know how to pick 'em, Lu."

"After Erza, I think I've given up on being friends with normal people," I sighed.

"You'll always have me," Levy said, grabbing my arm and grinning up at me.

I smiled back. "That depends on how you define normal," I said.

Levy smacked my arm playfully and protested in mock offense as we both burst into giggling laughter. I couldn't keep the smile off my face as Levy and I joked around with each other. It was going to be a fun day.


A/N: Hehehe. Friends are the best. I could write friendship dialogues all day. Hence this fic, I guess haha.

Thanks for reading!